Spy Nodes Threaten Monero’s Privacy Model

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The Monero community has long battled spy nodes, which pose a direct threat to the network’s core mission of privacy.

Past proposals — like creating ban lists of suspicious IPs — offer temporary relief but aren’t foolproof, as attackers can simply spin up new nodes.

To counter this, Monero advocates stress running self-hosted nodes and using privacy-enhancing tools like Dandelion++, which helps prevent linking transactions to IPs.

[alex10]

Spy nodes are a real concern. Decentralization only works if node operators act honestly — anonymity alone isn’t enough.

[Rimon Khan]

Monero’s community has to stay proactive against surveillance. Constant updates are the only way to preserve privacy integrity.